Most special education administrators do not get the chance to network regularly with professional peers to discuss job challenges and strategies. School-district special education directors routinely juggle complex, difficult, time-consuming, and emotion-laden job demands, but when things get tough, they usually find themselves solving problems…

Describes a districtwide effort to select and implement a computerized system that could compile and maintain student census data, in addition to redesigning the district's school bus routes to better accommodate a growing student population without increasing the number of buses in service. (JG)

This report covers the first year of a five-year study of 11 school districts that are involved in school improvement activities. The schools are attempting to create new programs that will increase the effectiveness of linking agents working with the schools in three curriculum areas: basic skills, career preparation, and citizen education.…

The purpose of this book is to explain how urban schools can deal productively with problems found embedded in their organizational structure. Written for persons interested in organizational change in schools, the book focuses on the theory of how problem solving in schools does work, how it can work, and how it can be facilitated by change…

Describes a plan to restructure and reform Minnesota's kindergarten through 12th-grade education system in an effort to ensure that students are adequately prepared for the future. Discusses student performance, the limits of K-12 education, core competencies, problem-solving skills, and students' responsibility for their own education. (CT)

This study examined the perceptions of teachers and administrators with regard to AVID (Advancement via Individual Determination) teacher leaders. The purpose was to compare whether teachers and administrators agree on the types of attributes needed for teacher leaders involved in implementing AVID as a school reform effort. Results revealed that…

This procedural manual describes the services of management assistance teams to local education agencies in the state of Pennsylvania. The purpose of the teams, provided by the Pennsylvania Department of Education, is to conduct studies and submit recommendations for changes that would result in improved management practices and more economic…

In 1974, the U.S. Office of Education (USOE) created the National Diffusion Network (NDN) in order to bring together representatives of federal, state, and local agencies to promote widespread adoptions of new and innovative programs within and across state boundaries. This goal is accomplished through use of State Facilitator (SF) and…

This report, the second of three prepared for the Massachusetts Department of Education, focuses on a formative evaluation which identifies descrepancies between innovative Title IV-C educational programs as planned and as the programs operated. Contents are organized in five main chapters each of which represents a different perspective but all…

Presented, in abridged form, are recommendations found in "An Agenda for Action," for special note by secondary school administrators as they carry out their responsibilities for curriculum development and coordination. It is felt that school administrators and curriculum supervisors often have neither the time nor the opportunity to…

Science teachers need to select tenets from the philosophy of education which stress student attainment of vital context, abilities, and attitudes. This paper discusses diverse schools of philosophical thought in terms of how each might relate to improving the science curriculum. For example, a science teacher who is a realist emphasizes that one…

An active staffing process used by teacher center personnel was investigated as a method of improving teacher center operations and of helping users of teacher centers. Through a preliminary survey of users' attitudes toward teacher centers, three expectations were formulated: (1) Many initial requests in the active staffing process would center…

This report of the fourth British Columbia Mathematics Assessment conducted in May 1990 is a condensed form of the technical report of the evaluation project. The report is divided into five sections. An introduction provides the rationale and purpose of the project and describes the organization and scope of the assessment. The second section…

The Richfield Educational Assessment Program is a districtwide effort to collect specific information about the knowledge, skills, understandings, and attitudes of students in selected areas. The information collected will be used to help Richfield citizens and educators make decisions for program improvement. The program closely parallels the…

The objectives of the Pennsylvania School Improvement Program (PSIP), funded by the National Institute of Education from 1976 to 1980, were to help schools analyze basic skills needs and improve student performance through the use of research-based programs and techniques. The data uncovered the need to improve instructional management, improve…